Introspect

hayleycomet, you mentioned negative expectations producing negative outcomes. That applies just as much to expectations of treatment.

According to my textbook (Physiology of Behaviour) the longest axon in the body goes from the base of the brain to the foot. And I know that axons can extend from one region of the cortex across the corpus callosum to another region of the cortex, though usually it's to the same structural region (i.e., parietal lobe to parietal lobe). But as far as I'm aware the length of an axon is restricted by its diameter and the size of the soma, so too many long axons within the brain would possibly be disadvantageous. So yes, it's possible, but as far as I'm aware it's not common.

Funny you should mention your dog, and something crouching on your chest, Rev Blair. I used to have these experiences quite often too a few years ago. Always after around 4am, always when I was asleep on my back. They were just as terrifying as everyone else has reported. As they became more familiar I found that I could force myself to scream, or at least so I thought. My g/f told me all she heard was a strange whimper. And then one day the presence (there was always a feeling of a presence and it seemed different each time) turned into a dog, and instead of the usual malevolent feeling I suppose something in my brain associated dogs with good feelings, and so the dog jumped lightly onto my bed and licked my face. I woke up laughing. Ever since then the experiences have been few and far between, and never as scary as they were, and I always had enough willpower to force myself onto my side so that I'd wake up. Incidentally I also figured out how to induce the experience. If I lie in bed after waking up, for about 30mins or so, and I don't allow myself to go back to sleep for that time, I start to feel a little groggy and drained. If I let myself go back to sleep then I'm almost guaranteed to wake up in sleep paralysis soon after.